Denver Restaurant Week splits in two next year, with winter and summer events

Can’t get enough Denver Restaurant Week? You’re in luck, glutton. In 2014, the 10th year of the week-long celebration of Denver tables, the event will be held twice, in winter and summer.

Mark the dates: Feb. 22-28, and Aug. 23-29. And prepare to shell-out a little bit more money. It will cost you $30, a slight increase from this year’s extravaganza, when a couple could drop just $52.80 for the three-course meal.

“A summer version of the event offers restaurants a lot of interesting serving and meal options,” said Richard Scharf, president & CEO of VISIT DENVER, in a news release. VISIT DENVER organizes Restaurant Week. “Restaurants will be able to offer outdoor dining and feature fresh Colorado produce. We anticipate that summer menus will be very different than the winter ones, and they will be able to showcase the farm-to-fork movement that is so popular in the state.”

One reason for the switch – a single patch of 14 days is a bit much on restaurants. The people working the kitchens get tired of it, and diners lose interest. By breaking it up to a pair of 7-day feasts, separated by a season, the hope is the event will stay fresh.

This year’s Restaurant Week, in February, included 355 restaurants that served 436,650 meals. That’s a lot of butter.